• On MovieTome: See the villain of IRON MAN 2!
July 16, 2008 7:37 PM PDT

Justice is served: SCO ordered to pay Novell millions

by Matt Asay

It's true that we haven't been forced to put up with SCO for a year or two, but I will admit to still feeling annoyed by the festering cesspool of greed that leaked from SCO's boardroom into the software industry for several years. These guys deserve to pay.

And so they will. Unfortunately, not very much. $2.55 million.

Still, the irony is sweet, as Groklaw suggests:

So, SCO breached its fiduciary duty to Novell, converted funds, and so it has to pay. That is ironic, in that this case started with SCO accusing Novell of slander of title, and asking for millions in damages. Instead it has to *pay* Novell millions.

Sometimes the good guys win. I just wish Novell could pierce the corporate veil and take more money out of Darl and his henchmen. That would be true justice. But I'll settle for what little the US courts can render under the circumstances.

Matt Asay brings a decade of in-the-trenches open-source business and legal experience to The Open Road, with an emphasis on emerging open-source business strategies and opportunities. Matt is vice president of business development at Alfresco, a company that develops open-source software for content management. He is a member of the CNET Blog Network and is not an employee of CNET. Disclosure. You can follow Matt on Twitter @mjasay.
Recent posts from The Open Road
Mobile: Still waiting to see what sticks
Google privacy controls: Most people won't care
Amazon's move mocks EU's fear of Oracle
Skype to open-source far too little
The difference a few years makes to open source
Novell cuts 3 percent of its workforce, plus benefits
Data's one-two punch in open-source business models
Open source as an antitrust strategy
Add a Comment (Log in or register) (7 Comments)
  • prev
  • 1
  • next
by Sumatra-Bosch July 16, 2008 8:44 PM PDT
Better, go after MSFT for instigating the bogus action.
Reply to this comment
by The_Decider July 16, 2008 11:22 PM PDT
True justice would be Darl doing 5-10 in a federal pen.

He knew he didn't have a case before he started this farce.

If anything, people who actually held SCO stock should be taking every dime he has.
Reply to this comment
by The_Decider July 16, 2008 11:28 PM PDT
Does SCO even have $2.55 million? Last I heard revenues are less then the cost of running this scam.
Reply to this comment
by FellowConspirator July 17, 2008 5:21 AM PDT
SCO's market cap at the close of trading was 3.28M, but in just this week it has been as low as 2.4M. It's a very volatile penny stock. For what it's worth, looking at their last quarterly report shows that they've been losing about 2.5M per quarter for the past few quarters. If they pay Novell, they won't have any cash, if they don't pay, they've got about 3 months of operating funds... Do you suppose their lawyers will work pro-bono? Perhaps they can work a deal to get Jonathan Lee Riches to represent them via conference call.
Reply to this comment
by Draq Wraith July 17, 2008 9:46 AM PDT
Now that this is done any bets on stock holders lawsuits against the board members ensuring that not one of them sits on aboard again?
I can hardly wait for the lawyer to sue for his money too. Novels lawyer will most certainly be awarded fees from this too.
Then there is MSFT who didn't instigate this incident but they tried to help fund it to the tune of 100 million dollars based on dayrls licensing lies.
Now how many of these companies are going to file fruad charges against SCO?
Lets just say SCO is the one that kicked over this hornets nest they will be the ones who pay, pay, and pay again!!
Bankruptcy is the next step.
D~W
Reply to this comment
by Sumatra-Bosch July 17, 2008 2:38 PM PDT
Right, Novell should go after MSFT. Do we really know to any degree of certainty that MSFT didn't instigate the action?
by Get_Bent July 17, 2008 12:14 PM PDT
Queue up Nelson from "The Simpsons": Ha-ha!
Reply to this comment
(7 Comments)
  • prev
  • 1
  • next
advertisement
Click Here

FAQ: Buying the right Windows 7 upgrade

Readers still have lots of questions on just which version of the software they need to buy in order to upgrade their PC. CNET News tries to offer some answers.

N.Y. lawsuit details Intel's 'largesse' toward Dell

Attorney General Andrew Cuomo's federal antitrust case filed Wednesday alleges a longstanding symbiotic relationship between Intel and Dell.

advertisement

About The Open Road

Matt Asay brings a decade of in-the-trenches open-source business and legal experience to the Open Road, with an emphasis on emerging open-source business strategies and opportunities. Matt is general manager of the Americas division and vice president of business development at Alfresco, a company that develops open-source software for content management. He is a member of the CNET Blog Network and is not an employee of CNET. Disclosure.

Add this feed to your online news reader

The Open Road topics

advertisement
advertisement

Inside CNET News

Scroll Left Scroll Right